The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Crafts

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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

This will be my final post on this blog. I finally decided on a new name. It's something way shorter, but still fun for me. I decided on the name, Craftcation, since crafting is one of my mini-vacations in life. I've moved all my posts to it, but you will have to subscribe again if you want to get my lastest posts. Sorry about that. Also, I am still combing over the site to include all the features that I like. If I missed something that you really liked, let me know. Thanks! So, pack your bags and join me on my Craftcation.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

I have to admit that I have been enamored with My Favorite Things stamps and dies lately. I knew I had to get this set to match all my camera dies and stamps. I wanted something bright and colorful for a birthday card so this pattern paper was perfect. I got these Close To My Heart My Reflections Lollydoodle pattern papers as a gift from my scrapbooking retreat, and I love how happy and bright they are. When I went through my stash of 12x12 paper, I felt like it is Christmas all over again, especially since I don't go through them as much as I like. So finding this in my stash made my day.

First, I layered white cardstock with pattern paper. Then I stamped the sentiment in black Brilliance ink and ran it through the Fiskars Fuse twice with die from My Favorite Things Blueprint 14 to give it a border. I layered the sentiment from My Favorite Things Picture This set with gray cardstock and adhered it to the card. I cut a banner tail on a strip of polka dot pattern paper before adhering it to the card with foam adhesive. Then I stamped the camera in MementoLuxe ink before fussy-cutting it out and adhering it to the card with foam adhesive. I finished the card with enamel dots from My Mind's Eye.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Call me weird but I love rainy summer days. It means my garden gets watered, and I don't have to be running around outside, and possibly get to be in my craft room. It's like a mandatory day of rest from Mother Nature. Also, I love lightning storms. Anyway, I made this card similar to my watercolored bouquet card following Dawn of WPlus9 video. I love having flower pots on my porch so it was fun to pick the flowers I want growing in them.

First, I stamped the flower pot from Lawn Fawn Our Friendship Grows in Distress vintage photo ink. Then I stamped stems and flowers from Lawn Fawn Penelope's Blossoms. I used a wet brush to soften the edges of the stamped images. I also drag some of the green from the stem to fill in the white gaps between the flowers. I used watered down Distress ink stormy sky to create the shadow. I layered the card onto a blue panel die cut from My Favorite Things Blueprint #13 and a white card base.

I made this card with my brother in mind. Instead of enjoying the summer, he has been in the hospital for weeks and it is all from a spider bite. His wife has been a rock for him despite all that she has to deal with and do. We are all so blessed to have her in our family. Anyway, I realized when this happened that I did not have any get well cards, which is great since that meant my friends and family have been fairly healthy. I made a conscious effort to be appreciative of the fact that I am healthy too. Okay, back to the card. I decided to create a stash of emergency quick card. As you know, watercolor is pretty trendy right now. So when I saw this video from Dawn of Wplus9, I had to create my own watercolored floral arrangement.

I stamped on watercolor paper with the vase from Lawn Fawn Our Friendship Grows set in Distress tumbled glass ink, making sure that I wipe the top part of the vase off. Then I used the stamps from Lawn Fawn Penelope's Blossom to create a bouquet of flowers with Distress inks (worn lipstick, concord grape, mustard seed, tumbled glass, mowed lawn). I stamp everything first, then used a wet brush to soften the edges of the flowers. For the shadow, I used watered down Distress ink, stormy sky, and brushed it at the bottom of the vase. I created little dots to hint at a flower that has tiny blooms before stamping the sentiment from Our Friendship Grows set. To finish the card, I layer this watercolored card onto a cardbase with blue cardstock die cut from My Favorite Things Blueprint #13. I'm addicted to the embossed dashed lines.

I had to make another one since it was so easy and fun to make. This time with a sentiment from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings set.

Monday, July 14, 2014

I've been wanting to craft more but the past two weeks has been super hectic. I decided to change my craft room from a deep red to a bright sunflower yellow. I just go with the colors I like and guess what? They are the two hardest colors to paint with and to cover. Yes, five coats of paint later, I'm calling it done. I actually did not like the first color I used since it is my hallway color, a light yellow. I felt it did not have the same wow factor as my old craft room. I always try to make life as difficult as possible. I think it is programed in my genes to do that. :-D I think it carries over into my crafts too. It takes me a long time to make some cards. I love looking at clean and simple cards for that reason. I used to do more clean and simple cards when I was always pressed for time. Now I do spend more time on cards. I have to admit when I was making this card, I almost changed directions to make it easier and faster. However, I told myself that I would not be satisfied unless I follow through. The very same thing I told myself when I was painting my room. Anyway, when I showed this card to Honey, he told me that I broke some law of cuteness. :-D Too Funny! He knows how much I love this girl from from My Favorite Things Everyday Is A Picnic. She is just soooo adorable!

First, I die cut blue card stock with MFT Blueprint #13 to get the dashed lines around the border. Then I die cut a circle opening on both the blue panel and card base. I layered the cardbase with clear plastic film and blue cardstock. I cut a strip of yellow and dark orange card stock and use the same die to get the embossed dashes lines. Then I stamped the sentiment from MFT Blue Skies Ahead on the yellow cardstock and cut banner tail on one side. I stamped and colored the MFT Everyday Is A Picnic girl before gluing her onto a white card and fussy-cutting her out. I was trying to cover up the marker that bled through. I placed her on the card before adhering both the yellow and orange cardstocks on top. I added some die cut butterflies from Stampin' Up Beautiful Wings Embossilits and stamped the swirls. To finish the card, I used a glitter pen on the swirls and Wink of Stella on the flowers on her outfit.

For the inside, I die cut a blue panel with MFT Blueprint #13 and clouds from Impression Obsession. I also stamped the sun in Memories yellow ink from MFT Everyday Is A Picnic set. Then I stamped the birthday sentiment from Stampendous Birthday Wish in black Brilliance ink.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Most of my friends are done having babies, so I rarely get to make baby cards anymore. So I was happy to find out that a new friend of mine is having a baby. I met her through my son and she is just so funny and matter-of-fact but not matter-of-fact mean. I love people like that! Anyway, I was itching to make a shaker card again, and sad to said but I've never use this stamp set and it is over a year old. The more craft blogs I read, the more I discovered that I am not alone. My basket is getting full of stuff that have never been used before. Is my hoarding tendencies coming out?! :-D I have to admit that I have been better about it, now that I have this huge basket sitting on my desk. Also, the basket is a reminder to hold off buying more stamps. This is my second year of seriously papercrafting again, so I am getting a better idea of what I use and. But that doesn't necessary mean that I don't have a long wish list. I know, it is so hard to be on a budget. :-) Okay, enough of that. Back to the card.

First, I used My Favorite Thing Blueprint #14 die to create the top pink panel. I just love the stitched borders! Then I stamped the tiny dots from Hero Arts with Versamark and glue clear plastic sheet on the back of the opening. I stamped the giraffe from Recollections Zoo-licious and color him in with markers. I added pattern paper from Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine 6x6 pad to the square cardbase before stamping the sentiment from Fresh Squeezed Stamps. Then I placed foam adhesive around the pink cardstock opening and added sequins from Lawn Fawn Let's Polka and Hello Sunshine. Once I popped the pink panel up, I added the giraffe that I fussy-cut and tied a pink embroidery floss around its neck.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

I'm loving the watercolored look on cards that I see everywhere. Of course, I can not get enough my Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold And... collection. They just are so perfect for so many different types of card. As I type this long name for the stamp sets, it reminds me of my blog name. I have to admit that I am toying with the idea of changing my blog name to something a little simpler. I still love my blog name, because I do like to poke fun at myself, but typing this long name gets a little tiresome and also, a mouth-full to say. I admit that when I came up with the blog name, I was not thinking about spreading the word about my blog, in fact, quite the opposite. Well except to close family and friends. As someone recently called me, I am the secret blogger. Ha, ha! :-D If you follow me, you know that I am very shy about my craft, and it's mainly because anything handmade by me is personal. I'm like a parent watching a kid on Christmas Day where I'm excited to see him/her open my gift. Anyway, I will give it some more thought to the name change, but in the meantime, I want to thank you for visiting my blog. The paper craft community is fun to be part of and to get to know. If you have an opinion about the name change, please leave a comment. As always, love to hear from you.

I stamped the roses from Winnie&Walter The Big, The Bold And Extras set with versamark ink and sprinkled Wow fine white embossng powder on watercolor paper before heat embossing. I used Distress ink pads and markers mixed with water to color in the images and create a background. I've never flicked a paintbrush in my life, but decided to give it a go and I love it! I'm extending myself to go beyond the lines whick is a stretch since I'm one of those stay in the line type of girl. :-D Ha! Anyway, I stamped the sentiment from Winnie and Walter The Big, The Bold And You set in black Brilliance ink before I round the corners and mount it onto the card base with foam adhesive.

Monday, June 30, 2014

There's something charming and so small town about my sons having the same art teacher as my husband. She is a lovely lady that clearly have style and tons of talent. I mean, real artistic talent, painting portraits type. So I was a little intimated to give her one of my cards, since I know a true artist will be looking at it. I'm still very shy about my cards and craft. I know I display my cards for the whole world to view on the Internet, but I can hide behind a screen. I still feel very much like a novice at times, and know that I still have a lot to learn. So many things to learn and so little time. ;-) Anyway, I absolutely love these lilies dies from My Favorite Things and had to use them for this card, especially since I was inspired by my own garden. I decided to color them in with similar colors this time. You seen me color these die cuts a little before, on another one of my post based on a video by Jennifer McGuire. I love using my markers to color the die cuts to give them depth and dimension. In this post, I share how I store my markers and how I test what markers blend well.

First, I layered the white card base with pattern paper from Jillibean Soup Chilled Cucumber Soup 6x6 pad. Then I die cut the lilies 3 times on my Fiskar Fuse. I used Copic makers and Sharpie to color the lilies before adhering them onto the card. I also used a black permanent pen to add black dots to the petals. Then I stamped the sentiment from Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold And You and The Big, The Bold And Extras stamp sets. I used some rolled up glue dot and foam adhesive to give some of the flowers dimension.

Below is a picture of the lilies I put into my garden this year. I love the color it adds to my garden.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

I find that lately, I have been taking the time to explore and learn more about coloring, especially with markers. So I would color without any projects in mind to see what colors work well together. I have gotten some Copic markers for my birthday to enhance my Bic and Sharpie permanent markers since I needed some in-between colors for shading. The three different type of markers seem to blend well together, surprisingly. Below is a close-up image of one of my coloring trials. The stamped image is from My Favorite Things Everyday is a Picnic set. Love this sweet adorable girl! I will have a project featuring her soon.

Anyway, I store my Copic markers in a Copic 72 Wallet Case that I got from Amazon. I like that I can travel easily with them and I can display them like this for me to quickly find. I don't want to go beyond 72 markers and have been using my other markers like Bic and Sharpie to complete my coloring needs. I know eventually I will get the other colors since I can not refill the Bic and Sharpies, but for now they are serving their purpose. Yes, Copics are an investment and I like that they have refills and a brush tip. Though I am curious about Spectrum Noirs since they are cheaper. I might get a pack in a color that I do not have and do a comparison some time.

Below you will see that I keep my coloring trials in a binder, so that I can refer back to see what worked and what didn't. I also keep extra images on hand when I know I have a long wait somewhere. I bring my makers and this binder along to color. Lately, I don't have the time, but I just want to color or do something crafty. This system seem to work for me now. It takes the pressure off of having to make something. Anyway, I use Memento black ink to stamp all the images onto mixed media paper from a pad for the trials.

Below is more trials of blending, I am still learning how to blend better with the colors I have.

In the same binder, I created swatches of all my markers and placed them in the similar color family. I did not include Distress inks, since I use them differently. I find that I use this quite a bit when deciding on what color combinations to try.

Before I created the swatches, I printed the free Copic Hand Color Chart and color in the markers I had. I also did this for the Bics and Sharpie markers. I do refer to this page if one of my markers are misplaced. Yes, my son have discovered that he likes using these markers to blend. YIKES! LOL! I'm being a good girl and sharing. :-D

Monday, June 23, 2014

Ever since we adopted our dog, our lives have revolved around him. We just simply love him. And frankly, the feeling is mutual, since every time we come home, he has the look that says, "I'm so happy that you are home, I miss you so much". Or "You are the best" when we are playing with him or just hanging out. So inspired by my puppy, I had to use these puppies from Lawn Fawn Critters At The Dog Park set with the sentiment for a card to a friend who loves dogs too. I've been wanting to make window cards for a long time so when I saw some floating around the internet, I had to do one. I had to combine two of my favorite companies, Lawn Fawn and Winnie&Walter, together in one card too.

First, I stamped, colored with markers and fussy-cut the puppies out. I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut my window panel. I adhered the puppies to the window frame and trimmed off any parts hanging out. All the pattern papers are from Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine 6x6 pad and using foam adhesive, I adhered the window to the multi-colored stripes pattern paper. Then I adhered the window to the polka dot pattern paper. I stamped the sentiment from Winnie&Walter The Big, The Bold And You set in Brilliance inks on the white cardbase before adhering the decorated window. I finished the front of the card by gluing on some sequins from Lawn Fawn's Mixed Sequins.

I've been a lot better about decorating the inside of the card for an added bonus. Using the same set of Winnie&Walter stamps, I stamped the inside of the card and adhered one of the puppies to the bottom of the card.